Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BY LOU SOMOGYI N ow entering his ninth year as Notre Dame's director of athletics, Jack Swarbrick has seen much upheaval during his tenure with significant conference realignments and the 2014 birth of the four-team College Football Play- off. Consequently, numerous adjust- ments have had to be made with the football schedules, and at least four principles have been made clear: • The untouchables are USC, Navy and Stanford. • Despite no Shamrock Series game (which began in 2009) in 2017 because of the unveiling of the Cam- pus Crossroad project in Notre Dame Stadium, it will remain a fixture on the slate, with an emphasis on a mar- quee matchup versus a Power Five conference opponent. • An average of five ACC games will be on the schedule each season as part of its agreement with the league, although there will be as many as six in 2019 and 2023 and as few as four in 2022 and 2024. • There will be no 13th game added to counter conference cham- pionship games in December. Thus, the 12-game regular season must be enhanced to at least match up and preferably trump any 13-game offer- ing of other schools. The latter is a primary reason why a two-game home-and-home series with Michigan was announced this July. In addition to the four afore- mentioned templates, Swarbrick out- lined several other goals during an exclusive interview with Blue & Gold Illustrated July 6. 'MARKERS' AGAINST POWER FIVE CONFERENCES Because of Notre Dame's indepen- dent status in football, Swarbrick believes it is essential to show the College Football Playoff selection committee how it matches up against the Power Five conferences: Pac-12, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC. • The Pac-12 is taken care of with recent North Division power Stan- ford and what is expected to be an- nual South Division favorite USC. • The ACC is also easily taken care of with Notre Dame's commitment. • Although Notre Dame did not play a Big Ten team in 2015 for the first time in more than a century and won't have the three or so foes from the league annually on the slate like GAME PLAN Director of athletics Jack Swarbrick discusses his goals for the Irish football schedule